ubuntu aims (Re: Idea for expanded support of some non-free software

[Philippe Landau]

Jeff Waugh wrote:
>>open source is there to change this.  in the transition period, 
>>there is no way around supporting mainstream proprietary formats. 
>>is it possible to have at least one canonical team member 
>>work on this full time ?
> No, that's not what we're here to do, but we will happily 
> accept packages into our universe and multiverse repositories 
> as long as they are legally redistributable.
you just wrote:

>> of these, multimedia is the one lacking most, 
>> so it would justify the biggest attention.
> Sure, and we're working on it, [...]
if, as you wrote, there are around 20 canonical
employees working on ubuntu, why can not at least
one concentrate on the field admittedly lacking the most ?

>>>However, we can increase demand for unencumbered formats 
>>>such as the Xiph stable - Ogg with Vorbis, Speex, Theora, etc. 
>>great, how could canonical contribute to this ?
> We're shipping all of these by default, supporting them as default formats,
> and feeding patches and bugs back upstream where appropriate. 
while demand is limited, this is not enough to change anything.

> How could you contribute to this? :-)
like all users i could convert media to these open formats
if ubuntu offered an easy way to do it.

>>>We can provide opportunities for people to provide legal and licensed
>>>software for using encumbered formats like DVD, everything mpeg, mp3,
>>>etc.
>>excellent. is this possible ?
> Of course.
this is confusing me: first you write for months that
you are still looking for legal ways to do this,
and now you say it is possible just like that ?